


Learning How to Breathe

by Borgupine



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Jedi Training (Star Wars), Meditation, Movie: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, One Shot, Other, Padawan, Post-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn Lives, Short One Shot, Training, Young Anakin Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:08:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28148109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Borgupine/pseuds/Borgupine
Summary: After the death of his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn continues his training of a young Anakin Skywalker.
Kudos: 11





	Learning How to Breathe

The boy came into the training room, his robes tidier than yesterday, though Qui-Gon left that for other masters to correct. The path of a Jedi was determined by what lay beyond the body, not trivialities on the outside.

“Sorry, Master,” the boy said. “I didn’t mean to be late, honest.”

“One as smart as you, Anakin, I thought you’d have realised by now that I always tell you to be here an hour before I want you.”

Anakin considered this, a wrinkle forming between his brows, before looking directly at Qui-Gon. “That’s tricksy.”

“You’re here on time, aren’t you? Early even. Shall we begin?”

“Sure!” he said, overeager as always.

With a grin, Anakin made his way over to a rack of training sabers.

“Today,” Qui-Gon said, “I’ll teach you how to breathe.”

Saber in hand, Anakin turned, smiling from the corner of his mouth. “I already know how to breathe, Master.”

“Is that so? Then perhaps you’d like to give the lesson.” Qui-Gon smiled himself as he pinched the end of his beard between a forefinger and thumb.

Hesitating, Anakin returned the training saber to the rack. He turned and fidgeted with the braid in his hair. As with a wind, he calmed, but he never stilled.

“Well,” he said, “you just breathe in and then out.”

“Were that things were so simple. Come, sit with me.”

The boy mirrored his master, crossing his legs so the knees were flush with the floor.

“Now, close your eyes and rest your hands on your lap,” Qui-Gon said. He waited until the boy had done so before following his own instruction. “Keep your spine straight, forming a line from the floor to your head. Visualise it with your mind. Now take a deep breath in through your nose. Holding for a count of four and release through the mouth.”

He guided the boy through ten more cycles until the tensions in his own body began to ease.

“Good, now continue at your own pace. Remember, breathe, hold, exhale. Allow your mind to clear. Focus your attention. It is the aim of a Jedi to be mindful—” 

“I thought the aim of Jedi was to serve the Republic.”

A loosened strain tightened up again. “Aim and duty are not mutually exclusive,” Qui-Gon said. “And you’ve lost your rhythm. Close your eyes, Anakin. Be mindful.”

“Of the Force?”

“Of everything.”

The boy let out a long sigh. The sound of it rushed out as his posture sank, falling in on himself.

Qui-Gon opened his eyes and allowed his breathing to return to normal. “You’re troubled.”

Anakin’s brows were heavy, drawing a shadow over eyes as blue as the spring sky outside.

“Some of the other padawans, they laugh at you,” he said. “They say you’re a joke, that you bring shame to the Order.” The boy mumbled to his hands, his head bowed so that only the feathery spikes of his hair showed.

“Don’t concern yourself with the idle—”

“They say you let Obi-Wan die.”

The familiar deeply rooted strain flared inside him. He breathed in deep, held, and let it out slowly.

“I did all I could for my apprentice… _my friend_.”

The same current of energy droned in his ears, echoing in the stillness of the air, a moment before the electron walls closed. There, Obi-Wan had held off the Sith until the walls opened and Qui-Gon rushed forward. But it wasn’t enough. They had closed once more and the Sith had killed his apprentice. He’d still been cradling Obi-Wan’s body when a group of the Queen’s guard had found him. Before Anakin arrived.

“Master?” the boy said presently.

Qui-Gon straightened his spine. “Let them think what they will,” he said.

Anakin looked at him, wise and wild beyond his years. “But… but…”

“Words have power, Anakin, but they are powerless to change what has already happened.”

“That’s sounds a lot like you’re just ignoring them.”

Qui-Gon gave a tired laugh through his nose. “I suppose I am at that. But it’s important to remember this, my apprentice. Don’t let the designs or thoughts of others shape your destiny. You are a vessel acting on the will of—”

“The Living Force, I know, Master.”

“And I’m proud of you, Anakin. You’ve come so far in such a short time and yet you remain balanced with no hint of pride or arrogance.”

He looked up with a grin. “Only because of your teachings.”

“Perhaps it is,” Qui-Gon replied with an easy smile. “We’ll practice our breathing a while longer and then I’ll take you for lunch. I know a diner you’ll like in CoCo Town.”

“Yes, Sir,” the boy said, closed his eyes and placed his hands on his knees.

As he closed his own eyes, Qui-Gon caught the faintest whisper, no louder than a shallow breath, calling to him. Too faint to hear words just yet, but in time, he expected his former apprentice to find his way back from the netherworld of the Force. What then would he have to say, he wondered.

“Master, you’re not breathing mindfully,” Anakin said.

“No, I’ve still much to learn myself,” he replied.


End file.
